Rabbi Mendel Kaplan is the Spiritual Leader and Executive Director of Chabad Flamingo in Thornhill, Ontario, serving one of Canada’s most dynamic Jewish communities. He also serves as Chaplain of the York Regional Police Service. He is an active member of Toronto’s Vaad HaRabbanim (Council of Orthodox Rabbis), and a voting member of the COR Kashruth Council of Canada’s executive rabbinical board. Rabbi Kaplan is featured regularly on many local television and radio shows. He is a sought after speaker, with hundreds of lectures are on Chabad.org. He and his wife, Faygie, are blessed with eight children. Artistically endowed, the rabbi enjoys drawing, sketching and creating charcoal portraits.Born in Newark, N.J. and raised in the southern United States, Dr. Dov Dumbroff obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Georgia with additional advanced training at the Oakridge Institute of Nuclear Studies in Tennessee. Dr. Dumbroff has authored or co-authored over 200 scientific publications, conference presentations and patents in the areas of plant biochemistry, physiology, biophysics, and analytical biochemistry. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of “The Robinson Family Institute of Jewish Learning”, Chabad @ Flamingo.

Great teaching
i'm so glad that there is some good solid teaching like this around that makes it clear that the issue is not science but rather one philosophy/worldview vs another, the Torah mindset vs the naturalistic one. thank you so much
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Daniel RosenthalCaliforniaJune 20, 2014

Evolution and God
Scientific evidence supports the idea that evolution has occurred; cosmic evolutionafter the "Big Bang" which created the Universe 13.8 billion years ago, andbiological evolution since the formation of the Earth 4.6 billion years ago. Butscience can not explain WHY the "Big Bang" happened, nor can it explain whycertain physical constants have values that allow star formation, planet formation,and the complex chemistry which drives life. If these constants differed from theirpresent value only by a small percent, stars--or indeed, atoms--could not form,and there would be no planets and no life. This is known as the AnthropicPrinciple, and this is where the idea of a Cosmic Censor, a.k.a. God comes in.Someone or Something had to set these constants to the right value for life toevolve. Evolution definitely did occur--but Someone or Something had to"program" the Big Bang to allow it to occur.
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I enjoyed this recording, but there were problems. Dov describes evolution by means of natural selection well and rightly calls Darwin a genius. However, he said he doesn't like evolution and doesn't explain why.

Kaplan is a good speaker but makes some glaring blunders. While he acknowledges the importance of metaphor he still insists on too literal a reading of Genesis which he uses to dispute biology. He misunderstands the reason why Jews come in many colors; he overestimates the roles of diet and climate (short-term) and underestimates the roles of conversions and intermarriage in Jewish history. The long-term role of climate is important in explaining why humans come in many colors; the irony is that the explanation is evolutionary. He acknowledges that Darwin's theory is beautiful, but he misses that point that its beauty goes hand in hand with the fact that it makes sense.
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Anonomysthornhill, ontOctober 26, 2008

Dont go to hard on rabbi Kaplan
Give the Rabbi a break with the eggs analogy. He was trying to tell a joke when he said he cant cook eggs and that's why he reads books instead. I am sure the rabbi does know how to cook but he may not know how to learn our books. In a book called Feeding Among the lillies, there is an essay on differant scholars that were effected by the enlightenment movement, Martin Buber and several more included. The author tells a chasidishe story told by a chassid and then tells the same story as told by Buber. After a carfeul analasyis, the author shows how Buber changed some nuances of the story to make the chasidish way of life more distant from the reader.

Notwithstadning you will probably find more useful information in a book called Mind Over Matter.
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MarcRome, ItalySeptember 29, 2008

The Great Debate
Rabbi Kaplan admits clearly that the theory of evolution poses no problem to belief in the Torah. That is the most sensible thing he said.
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Jay LandauPulaski, VirginiaAugust 22, 2008

Respect
Maybe you disagree with their ideas and opinions, but a little derech eretz (manners) is in order.
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Paul Steinvia chabadofoxnard.comApril 22, 2008

Creation and Evolution
Doctor Dumbroff is not much of an evolutionary scientist based on the facts he cited, and the Rabbi grossly twists scientific principles to fit his ideas. I agree with the first commentor. In the end, listening to this was a huge waste of my time.
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WithheldSeptember 8, 2007

Creation and Evolution
Dr. Dumbroff is NOT a scientist and Rabbi Kaplan can't confront reality.
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